Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Q4 and FY 2024 earnings call comes on the heels of the company’s Q4 and FY 2024 Update Letter, which was released after the closing bell on January 29, 2025.
Tesla’s Q4 2024 results:
- Earnings Per Share (GAAP): $0.66 per share
- Earnings Per Share (Non-GAAP): $0.73 per share
- Operating Income: $7.1 billion GAAP; $7.1 billion GAAP net income in 2024; $2.3 billion in Q4 including $0.6 billion mark-to-market gain on digital assets.
- Total Revenues: $25.7 billion
- Total Automotive Revenues: $19.80 billion
Q4 & FY 2024 Earnings Call at 4:30pm CT today https://t.co/uFCg69a6tN— Tesla (@Tesla) January 29, 2025
The following are live updates from Tesla’s Q4 and FY 2024 earnings call. I will be updating this article in real-time, so please keep refreshing the page to view the latest updates on this story. The first entry starts at the bottom of the page.
17:41 CT – And that closes Tesla’s Q4 and FY 2024 earnings call! Thanks so much for joining us, and see you next quarter!
17:40 CT – Dan Levy of Barclays asks about Trump’s anti-EV mandate and Elon Musk’s view on it. The CEO noted that at this point, sustainable transport is inevitable. “At this point I think sustainable transport is inevitable. You can’t stop the advent of electric cars. It’s gonna happen. The only thing holding back electric cars is range, and that is a solved problem,” Musk said.
17:37 CT – Pierre Ferragu of New Street Research asked about Tesla’s plans to deploy robotaxis on June. He wonders if he can drive down to Texas in June to test it. Musk said sure, and at the time, Tesla would be using its own fleet for its initial autonomous ride-hailing program. Cars won’t be from individual owners.
Musk also predicts that Tesla owners will be able to add car their cars to the robotaxi fleet by next year.
Tesla is also working toward FSD Unsupervised which will allow people to check their emails, texts, etc., while the vehicle is in motion, but the company is very cautious. Tesla has seen that people are turning off FSD Unsupervised to check their texts.
17:30 CT – Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley asked if Elon Musk still does not believe in Lidar. Elon Musk says he still does not. “Obviously, humans drive without shooting lasers out of their eyes,” Musk joked. He also explained that he is not anti-Lidar per se. He’s just anti-Lidar when it comes to autonomous cars.
17:25 CT – As for FSD in China, Musk noted that training videos in China cannot be exported out. Tesla figuring out how to train FSD Unsupervised in China. One of the challenges is bus lanes, which are very complex in China.
“Hopefully, we can have Unsupervised FSD in other countries next year,” Musk said.
17:18 CT – Analyst questions start with Bernstein. He asks Elon Musk about what he is doing to push Tesla’s management team to accelerate the company’s programs. Musk noted that Tesla is working on perfecting real-world AI. “I spend a lot of time with the Tesla AI team and the Tesla Optimus team,” he said.
Musk noted that there are many challenges with Optimus and vehicle autonomy, but the pieces are there. He predicts Europe will be a challenge for FSD Unsupervised. FSD Unsupervised is expected to be presented to the EU in the Netherlands in May, with a release probably next year.
17:15 CT – A question about HW3 vehicles was asked. Tesla noted that the company is not giving up on HW3. Tesla is still working on HW3 but updates will trail HW4 releases.
“We are going to have to upgrade Hardware 3 for people who bought FSD. That’s the honest answer. It’s going to be painful and difficult but that’s what we’re going to have to do,” Musk admitted.
Another question was asked if Tesla has given up on Solar Roof. Tesla noted that it has not. Musk noted that Tesla has found growth by distributing Solar Roof to the roofing industry.
17:14 CT – Another question is asked, this time about the Tesla Semi and how it will affect revenue and scale. Tesla noted that preparations for production are ongoing, and that production is expected to start late this year from Reno. He also thinks the Semi will be incredibly valuable with FSD Unsupervised.
Musk noted that the United States actually has a shortage of truck drivers. And truck drivers are human, so they get tired. “I have a lot of respect for truck drivers, because it’s a tough job,” Musk said.
He noted that more people are leaving trucking than those entering it. With this in mind, autonomy is extremely important. “It’s a several billion-a-year opportunity,” Musk said. That said, the CEO also noted that “all of this is gonna pale in comparison to Optimus.”
17:10 CT – Musk reiterated that Optimus will be used at Tesla factories first, doing tedious tasks that no one wants to do.
Optimus production Version 2–maybe starting mid-next year–will be designed for 10,000 units a month vs 1,000 units a month. Version 3 is for 100,000 units per month, and with Version 2, Optimus robots may be delivered to other companies.
“Demand will not be a problem, even at a high price,” Musk said. He also noted that at one million units per year, Optimus’ production costs will be around or less than $20,000.
17:04 CT – Another investor question asked if Optimus is designed locked. Musk noted that Optimus is not design-locked at all. However, the CEO noted that “it is rapidly evolving in a good direction.” Musk also noted that other companies are missing real-world AI and manufacturing capabilities.
17:03 CT – The next investor question asked if other carmakers are interested in licensing FSD. Elon Musk confirmed that yes, they are. “What we’re seeing is at this point is significant interest in licensing FSD,” the CEO noted. But before FSD is licensed, Tesla has to reach unsupervised FSD first.
17:01 CT – Investor questions begin. The first is about unsupervised FSD’s release. Musk noted that he believes unsupervised FSD in California and Texas this year, with many more regions at the end of 2025.
“We’re looking for a safety level that is significantly safer than a human driver,” Musk said. “The only thing holding us back is an excess in caution,” Musk said.
17:00 CT – The CFO noted that Tesla’s growth came from Megapack and Powerwall. Both continue to be production-constrained, which will hopefully be relieved by China, whose Shanghai Megafactory is producing Megapacks. Tariffs, however, are very likely, Tesla’s CFO noted.
16:58 CT – Tesla’s CFO takes the stage. He credits the Tesla team for its performance in Q4. He also discussed some milestones, such as record deliveries in the Greater China market, which is extremely competitive.
Cost reduction continues as well, despite increased depreciation and other costs as the company prepared for the new Model Y. Overall cost per car now down below $35,000.
The new Model Y will be produced in all factories supporting the vehicle starting next month. This is unprecedented in Tesla history.
He notes that Tesla is also on track to release a more affordable model in the first half of 2025, and there will be more models from there.
16:54 CT – Elon Musk predicts increased demand in energy business. That said, he does admit that Tesla always has to allocate its battery supply. “2025 is really a pivotal year for Tesla. It might be viewed as the most important year in Tesla history,” Musk said.
16:50 CT – Elon, however, admitted that he’s making insane predictions. He cautions that his predictions aren’t necessarily precise. That said, the target is to make 10,000 Optimus robots this year. Elon is confident that Tesla can produce a few thousand this year, with a goal to ramp Optimus production every year.
Optimus’ capabilities are expected to be very impressive. Musk notes that Optimus would be able to play the piano or thread a needle. That’s how precise its hands would be. “Optimus will be able to play the piano and be able to thread a needle,” Musk said.
16:48 CT – Tesla expects to launch Unsupervised FSD as a service in Austin in June. Musk noted that Tesla’s unsupervised FSD system is already working very well in the company’s factories.
“The cars aren’t just driving to the same spot. The cars are programmed to a lane” or a destination parking spot for pick up from customers. Teslas will be in the wild–with no one in them–in Austin in June,” Musk said.
16:45 CT – Musk noted that Tesla’s current constraints are battery packs for now. “Things are going to ballistic next year…and ’27, and ’28,” he said.
Musk also stated that the training needs for the Optimus robot is 10x what’s needed for a car. A humanoid robot, however, probably has 1000 more uses than a car.
“We live at this unbelievable inflection point in history,” Musk said.
16:40 CT – “I know I’ve been called the boy who cried wolf. I’m telling you, there’s a damn wolf this time. It can drive you,” Musk joked, discussing FSD and his past failed predictions about when unsupervised FSD will be ready.
He also highlighted that while FSD behaved like a neophyte driver before, it won’t be like that forever.
“The only people who are skeptical are those who haven’t tried it (FSD),” he said. He also highlighted the potential of the Tesla Network. “It works fine in the US, and of course, it will work just well anywhere else. The reality of autonomy is upon us,” Musk added.
16:38 CT – Elon takes the stage. He states that Tesla ended the year with a run rate of 2 million cars per year. The Model Y was the world’s best-selling car again in 2024. He shares an optimistic outlook on Tesla’s autonomy program.
“Autonomy is 10X-ing,” Musk said, adding that he still sees a path toward Tesla becoming the world’s most valuable company by a mile. “There’s a path to that,” he said.
Musk noted that Tesla laid the groundwork for autonomous cars and robots in 2024, and these efforts will continue in 2025. “This will set up what I think will be an epic 2026 and a ridiculously good 2027 and 2028,” Musk said.
16:34 CT – Here we go! Tesla’s IR announces that Tesla CEO Elon Musk and a number of executives are present at the call.
16:30 CT – It’s time! It won’t be surprising if Tesla starts a bit late. That being said, there will probably be quite a number of interesting discussions in this call.
Just recently, Tesla posted the first video of its FSD Unsupervised system working in the Fremont Factory. That’s a very big deal.
16:25 CT – Hello, and happy earnings day to everyone! Tesla missed some of Wall Street’s expectations, but TSLA stock seems to be doing pretty well in today’s after-hours. It’s up about 2.3% as of writing.
As always, this might be a very interesting earnings call.
Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads up.
Investor's Corner
Tesla gets its latest short from Michael Burry: ‘Happy it jumped back to this level’
Tesla short seller Michael Burry, the subject of the film “The Big Short,” where he was portrayed by Steve Carell, has revealed he has opened a new bet against the stock.
In a new update to his Substack newsletter in a post titled “Trading Post June 30, 2026,” Burry revealed a new set of bets against Tesla, Caterpillar, NVIDIA, Applied Materials Inc., and the iShares Semiconductor ETF.
In regard to Tesla, Burry wrote:
“And finally I shorted Tesla at 416.22. Happy it jumped back to this level.”
This means Burry likely opened his new short position after the company’s recent rally on Wall Street, which saw Tesla shares sink in mid-May, only to recover to well over the $400 mark. Currently, shares trade at around $427.
The company saw a big Tuesday as shares climbed considerably, over 10 percent. The size of the Tesla short was not provided, nor did Burry give any information on the position’s structure, the number of shares, dollar value, or whether options were used in the short.
The Tesla and SpaceX merger everyone is talking about is quietly building
Over the years, Burry has been one of the more vocal critics of Tesla, calling its share price “media inflated,” and saying it was “ridiculously overvalued” as recently as December.
The company has largely transitioned away from being known as an automotive company and instead is much more widely regarded as an AI play, mostly due to its Full Self-Driving efforts, Optimus robot development, and data collection related to both.
This has not pulled those skeptics away from being vocal about their distaste for how Tesla is valued, but there’s no denying that the company is a global force in many things, including sustainable energy, automotive, and AI.
Wedbush Securities is initiating stock coverage on SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX), marking the first comments on the company since it went public several weeks ago. Wedbush and its analyst handling coverage, Dan Ives, are widely bullish on fellow Musk company Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA).
Ives wrote his first note initiating coverage of SpaceX shares on Wednesday with a $190 price target and an ‘Outperform’ rating. The firm believes the company is well positioned off of its IPO because of its wide array of projects, including AI compute power and infrastructure, connectivity projects, and launches.
“We view SpaceX as one of the most differentiated assets within the tech market with a strong footprint across its three core markets, with Starlink driving success with connectivity,” Ives wrote, “Starship launches leading to a demand flywheel and increasing deal flow for its Colossus clusters.”
Elon Musk called it Epic: The full story of SpaceX’s Starship Flight 12
Wedbush leans heavily on Starlink, which they say is the “profitability driver given the strength of its recurring revenue base of ~12 million subscribers as of June 5th.” Ives believes Starlink is still in the “early innings” of penetrating the global telecommunications and broadband market, as it only holds less than a 1 percent share. However, this number is sure to increase over time.
It also highlights the importance of Starship, which it says is an “essential layer” of SpaceX’s overall success. SpaceX developing and displaying the ability to reuse rockets is a major cost and reliability advantage “as it reduces the necessary hardware launch costs while generating a feedback loop for future flights to improve their launch flight rate without accelerating capex spend.”
Finally, SpaceX’s recent AI/Compute projects are also very elementary, Ives writes. It is worth mentioning Wedbush said its $190 price target is derived from a valuation forecast that sees the company yielding roughly $2.48 trillion of implied enterprise value.
There are also some factors that Wedbush did not take into account with its initial coverage. The firm wrote in the note:
“We note that there is optional value coming from Starship’s accelerating scale towards sub-$200/kg unit economics, orbital data centers, and enterprise AI monetization as these factors could drive meaningful upside but these face major hurdles, so we do not take that into account with our valuation.”
SpaceX shares are down just over 2 percent today, trading at around $167 at the time of publication.
For years, there have been images and videos across social media platforms that have reminded me of when I was a 15-year-old kid teased by “Xbox 720” videos on YouTube. These videos are of the supposed “Tesla Phone” that Elon Musk was secretly developing in between leading Tesla with its electric cars and SpaceX with its reusable rockets.
Would you buy a Tesla phone ? pic.twitter.com/aaTwvvIJit
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) October 6, 2023
Although Musk has put those rumors to bed several times, it was never completely out of the realm that he could get involved in cell phones in some capacity. Think outside the box and more macro-level, though. Instead of reinventing the computer, Musk reinvented connectivity by developing Starlink with SpaceX.
It could be something similar, TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams said in a note last week, where he hinted SpaceX could be gathering some steam to acquire T-Mobile.
Williams said it would be the “clear choice” for SpaceX if it decided to go through with a network acquisition. He also suggested AT&T.
The move would be possible through selling more of its own stock, which would help SpaceX raise the money to purchase T-Mobile, which would cost roughly $300 billion. It could be one of the moves SpaceX makes post-IPO in terms of an acquisition: it already acquired Cursor AI for $60 billion.
Other analysts, like Dan Ives of Wedbush, believe SpaceX and Tesla will eventually merge into one anyway, and that conglomeration could come as soon as this year, some have said.
The implications of SpaceX purchasing T-Mobile are massive. A combined entity would create a truly ubiquitous network: T-Mobile’s terrestrial 5G towers and Starlink’s growing constellation of Direct-to-Cell satellites. This would essentially eliminate dead zones across the U.S. and potentially globally.
SpaceX would instantly become a full-scale facilities-based carrier with satellite differentiation; a huge advantage. This would pressure AT&T and Verizon heavily.
There are also concerns like a potential reduction in long-term competition, and of course, a deal of that size would face intense scrutiny from government agencies.
The strategic fit is compelling due to the existing Starlink–T-Mobile partnership and complementary technologies (space + terrestrial). It could create a dominant integrated communications player. However, the regulatory, financial, and execution hurdles are enormous — this remains highly speculative with no indication SpaceX is actively pursuing it right now.
Tesla Optimus project fires up as Musk sees production line progress
Tesla gets its latest short from Michael Burry: ‘Happy it jumped back to this level’
